Charlie Watson
by marchingislife
Summary: Sherlock is staring at his information wall one night when Lestrade comes to 221B with bad news. I don't own the characters! I got the idea from a tumblr post saying "I just want one shot of Sherlock staring at his information wall with Baby Watson strapped to his chest in season 4." and took it farther. WARNING! Character death and FEELS!
1. Chapter 1

It was late at night. Sherlock Holmes stood in front of his information wall for a particularly difficult case (locked-door triple murder) with Charlotte Grace Watson in a harness, asleep, on his chest. John and Mary were on a date, so they had left "Charlie" with her godfather, Sherlock. He was interrupted from his musings when he heard Mrs. Hudson open the door and murmur a conversation with Lestrade at the door.

_Slow footsteps, hesitant. Not here for information on the case. Bad news._ Sherlock quickly deduced as Lestrade climbed the stairs to his flat.

Sherlock whirled to face Lestrade as he opened the door slowly. "What is it? You're not here for the case; you know I'd tell you if I had any new information. You know I would, that much has changed since my return," Sherlock insisted as Lestrade opened his mouth to protest that idea, "So, what's happened?"

Lestrade took a deep breath and said, "John and Mary are dead. Their cab was hit by a drunk driver on the driver's side in the back. Mary died instantly, and it seems that John bled out. The cabbie and the driver are seriously injured. I'm so sorry, mate."

There was a ringing in Sherlock's ears. His best friend was dead, along with his wife, and Sherlock, for once, didn't know what to do. He could tell that Lestrade was chocked up, but all Sherlock felt was numb. Charlie stirred in her harness, and a realization hit Sherlock like a ton of bricks falling after a bombing. He was now this tiny baby's guardian. Her parents were dead, and she would never truly know them, all she would remember was Sherlock.

"What do I do?" Sherlock asked, but it seemed that more time had passed than he thought, and Lestrade had left. There was a note on the coffee table from him saying, "I'll be back later to talk more about funeral arrangements, and … other things. –GL"

Sherlock, unsure of what to do, stared blankly at his information wall. He suddenly felt the urge to tear it all down, to run into the London streets and never look back, to forget the best years of his life. He knew he couldn't, the presence strapped to his chest reminded him of that, so he settled for taking Charlie out of the harness and setting her gently on the sofa before taking the harness off. He then picked Charlie up again, laid on the couch, and placed her back on his chest. Then, something completely unexpected in any other situation happened: Sherlock cried himself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **I know on my profile it says that I don't write that often, but I just started my account, and I'm in the mood to write. You guys make me want to write when you leave reviews, and because this story has received an overwhelming number of views in its first few hours. On that note, I would really like feedback on how I'm writing. Are my portrayals of the characters alright? After a comment from Saavikam69, I realized that chapter one's ending was kind of unexpected, and should probably put that warning in. Much love! (This chapter turned out a little longer than I expected, but I couldn't find a good place to stop).

"Uncle Sherloooooock!" Charlie whined as she ran into her godfather's room. "Wake up! It's my first day of school!"

Sherlock blinked awake to look at his now-adopted daughter. He insisted she call him "Uncle," however, to remind her of her parents. At John and Mary's funeral five years ago, Sherlock had made a promise to remind Charlie of her parents and how much they loved her every chance he got.

Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson helped Sherlock with Charlie whenever he felt completely lost, and he was eternally grateful to them for it. Sherlock had taken to sleeping and eating more, and stopped taking dangerous cases; he realized he didn't want to leave Charlie all alone in the world.

"Alright Charlie, calm down. Let me shower and then I'll make us breakfast hm? In the meantime, you need to put on that dress Mrs. Hudson bought you last week," Sherlock murmured as he rolled out of bed.

"Okay!" Charlie giggled and flounced out of the room, her long blonde waves bouncing after her.

Sherlock was quick to shower, and, when he entered the sitting room, found Charlie in the blue dress that matched hers and John's eyes. Mrs. Hudson having taught Sherlock how to style Charlie's hair, he picked up her hairbrush from the coffee table and ran it through the hair she inherited from Mary. He quickly braided it then went to the kitchen to start breakfast.

"You need to get your schoolbag and make sure all of your supplies are in it. Hopefully by the time you've found everything, breakfast will be done."

Sherlock listened as his goddaughter ran about the flat picking up the supplies she had scattered the day before in her excitement. Sherlock thought about her a lot, about how she was turning out, how he thought maybe John and Mary were foolish for making him their daughter's guardian. Sherlock did not deal well with people and social situations, much less children. Yes, Archie had taken to him during the planning of John and Mary's wedding, but that was one child for a short period of time. Sherlock wasn't cut out to be a _parent_. He was glad of their decision because Charlie was a joy, but he regretted that he knew the full extent of her tiny personality because her parents were snatched away from her.

Sherlock was broken out of his reverie as he finished the toast and eggs he had made them and placed them on plates. Charlie was watching him from her seat at the table, free of experiments since she had moved in as a baby (Sherlock had started to rent out 221C to use for experimenting), so he smiled at her and presented her a plate with a flourish.

She giggled as she took the plate and tucked in. They ate in silence until it was time for them to leave. Mrs. Hudson fussed over Charlie as she twirled in her dress for Mrs. Hudson, and Mrs. Hudson insisted on getting her camera to take pictures of just Charlie then Charlie and Sherlock on her first day of school.

After insisting they were going to be late, Sherlock opened the door of 221 and hailed a cab. He helped Charlie in then climbed in himself and gave the cabbie the address of the school.

Charlie was bouncing in her seat, kicking her feet as she stared out the window. "Are you ready?" Sherlock queried. Charlie turned to look at him and beamed. "Of course! I'm so excited to learn more and meet new people!"

Charlie took after John in her need to be with people, but Sherlock had instilled in her the need to learn. He taught her the alphabet and some addition when he thought she could handle it, and he let her help him on the less … explosive experiments. He had even begun to teach her to observe everything around her, so she could make deductions. Lestrade had made sure she understood that she couldn't blurt her deductions around other people because they might take offense to it.

When they finally arrived, Sherlock paid the cabbie as Charlie bounced out of the cab and waited impatiently on the sidewalk, so they could walk in together. Sherlock insisted on meeting her teacher and seeing how Charlie interacted with the other children before class started.

They walked into the classroom, brightly covered in paper insects and flowers with a chalkboard at the front of the room and rows of children's desks. The teacher, Mrs. Petrie, turned to greet them when they entered. There were already many children playing about the room, so Sherlock let Charlie go as the dark-haired teacher approached.

Mrs. Petrie smiled at Charlie as she passed and held her hand out to Sherlock. "I'm Mrs. Petrie, and you are?"

"Sherlock Holmes. Charlie Watson is my adopted goddaughter."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Holmes. Are there any questions I can answer for you?"

Sherlock looked at the woman and deduced that she was happily married for eight years with hopes of having a child of her own one day, and that she was truly devoted to her students.

Sherlock nodded to himself and said, "No, thank you though. I just wanted to see how Charlie interacted with the other children before class started." He quickly found her amongst the other children and saw that she was talking animatedly with some other girls already while playing with a pink plastic tea set. He smiled a little to himself then turned to the teacher. "I think she'll be fine. Thank you so much for meeting with me, but I suppose I should go home now." And with that, he left the building. He hailed a cab and headed for 221B without Charlie for the first time since she had so suddenly become completely part of his life. But he was glad that she was growing up so well, he only wished John and Mary were there to see it.


	3. Chapter 3

Sherlock was stretched out in a chair at the table in Mrs. Hudson's flat while she bustled about her kitchen making tea and getting a plate of biscuits. He had just returned from taking Charlie to school for the second day in a row (Sherlock didn't understand why Mrs. Hudson insisted Charlie go so often) and was entering a sulk.

"I don't know, Mrs. Hudson. Maybe Charlie needs someone better suited to raise a child. I don't think I'm doing it right if I can't understand the point of sending her to school. She deserves a normal mother and father, someone like John and Mary to raise her, so she can be happy," he moaned.

"William Sherlock-Scott Holmes, you stop thinking like that this instant!" Sherlock sat up at Mrs. Hudson's tone and the use of his full name. "That little girl is the happiest little girl I have ever seen. She giggles and laughs and beams and twirls in her dresses. If that's not proof that she's being raised just fine, I don't know what is. Yes, she might want her parents every now and again, but you are doing just fine raising her. John and Mary didn't ask you to be her godfather just because you're John's best friend. They picked you because they thought you would be the best choice. They wanted you to take care of their little girl if something ever happened to them. And you know that if you ever feel like you're not doing well, I'll always be here and you've got that wonderful Detective Inspector to help you." Mrs. Hudson placed a plate of biscuits in front of Sherlock and went to get her tea tray to place on the table for both of them.

Sipping his tea, Sherlock considered Mrs. Hudson's words. John and Mary weren't idiots, no, but that didn't mean they couldn't have had a lapse in judgment. That and John did seem to have had too much faith in Sherlock's abilities. But then he remembered that Charlie was a happy little girl. Maybe he was doing something right; he only hoped he could manage to continue to do it as Charlie continued to grow.

"Thank you Mrs. Hudson," he muttered into his tea cup.

"No problem, dear. I'm always here."

Sherlock smiled and thought about the life he had built since he met John, and how much it had drastically changed that fateful night Charlie became his. While he was still sad about the loss of his best friend, he wouldn't change anything else that had happened after because he had a beautiful and intelligent little girl to remind him of John and the woman who became Sherlock's friend as well. Sherlock was content with the world, and he never wanted it to end.

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**AN:** Read and Review please! Much love.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie was quiet coming home from school one day months into the year. Sherlock didn't think much of it; she had had a tiring week and was probably just exhausted. He thought he would make a quick dinner and then would have her go to bed so she could rest up. Sherlock soon found that that would not be the case.

As soon as the door to 221B closed, Charlie burst into great wailing sobs. Alarmed, Sherlock quickly asked, "Charlie, what's wrong?"

"Alexander told me that Mommy and Daddy don't love me, that is why they left. He told me no one lives with their uncle unless their Mommy and Daddy don't love them," Charlie chocked and sobbed.

Sherlock saw red, but he calmed enough to talk gently to Charlie. "Charlotte Grace Watson, I thought you knew better than that. Haven't I told you how much your Mommy and Daddy love you? They didn't want to leave you; they didn't have a choice. That choice was taken away from them by someone who made a bad decision. Remember all those stories I've told you?"

Sherlock, in an effort to give Charlie an idea of what her parents were like, would read John's blog to her at night. He would tell stories that weren't on the blog too. He always managed to end them with, "Then John met Mary, and they fell in love. Their love gave the world a beautiful girl named Charlie." He hadn't gotten to tell her about their wedding turned almost-crime scene because he had only started telling her these stories; he wanted her to be able to remember them well.

Sniffling, Charlie nodded. "Well I've got one more for you," Sherlock said, "and I'm going to tell it to you tonight at bed time to prove that that mean boy Alexander is an idiot." Charlie looked skeptical, but she accepted it and shuffled to her room – John's old room. Sherlock sighed and closed his eyes. Children were so cruel sometimes, a fact he remembered too well from his primary school days. He had hoped that Charlie would inherit John's popularity with people and avoid their cruelty, but it seemed that he was not that lucky.

Sherlock wandered into the kitchen to make dinner, which was a silent affair as Charlie was still downtrodden and Sherlock was unsure how to handle the situation other than his story; he would have to skip several on the blog to reach it, but it would be worth it if it made Charlie happy again.

Later that night, as Charlie climbed into bed, Sherlock sat in a chair he had pulled up next to her bed. "Tonight's story, as always, is about John and Sherlock and their crazy adventures. This time, however, Mary is at the very beginning of it.

"Sherlock interrupted John and Mary's date night where John was going to ask Mary to, well, marry him. After a long series of events and moving from restaurant to restaurant, John and Mary went back to their flat where John finally proposed.

"Weeks that were full of crimes and excitement passed, and Sherlock helped John and Mary plan their wedding. Finally, the wedding day came. It was a sunny day, rare for London, and everyone was happy for the couple." _Everyone except Sherlock_ he thought. _The end of an era. That's what Mrs. Hudson said, and, in a way, she was right. _"The vows were said and the time came for the reception dinner. Sherlock, as best man, rose to give the best man speech. He wanted it to be perfect for his best friend because John Watson deserved every happiness. John was the bravest and wisest and kindest man Sherlock had ever known and was glad to be his best friend. Sherlock knew that John and Mary would be very happy together, so he was happy for them.

"In the midst of all the happiness, there was an attempted murder, which I will tell you about later because it's not the point of tonight's story, that Sherlock, John, and Mary were able to solve without anyone dying. When everyone was dancing, Sherlock deduced something that made John and Mary so happy; it was almost too much for them to bear all in one day. Sherlock deduced that Mary was pregnant. Sure enough, nine months later, Mary gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and named her Charlotte Grace Watson. Then, one night, John and Mary went on a date. They left Charlie with her godfather Sherlock. On their way to get Charlie, a man who made the bad decision to stay at a pub too late then drive himself home hit their cab. They both died in the accident.

"So you see Charlie, your Mommy and Daddy didn't want to leave you. They were coming to get you when they left. If anyone ever tells you they didn't love you, don't believe them for one second. If you have to, tell them the story of how you were born. Ok? Your mommy and daddy loved you very much. Don't ever doubt or forget that. And always remember, I will always be here too. Just the two of us against the rest of the world, right?"

Charlie was wide-eyed with fascination and nodded. "Good. Do I need to talk to Mrs. Petrie about Alexander?" Charlie shook her head. "Alright. Good night, Charlie. Sleep well." She was sound asleep.

The next day, Sherlock walked Charlie into school like every day. Sherlock could hear whom he assumed to be Alexander taunting Charlie. She must have sensed his agitation, however, because she said, "It's ok Uncle Sherlock. I'm just going to ignore him because it's just the two of us against the rest of the world, right?"

Sherlock beamed at her. "Right."


End file.
